The Shadow In Her Wings
by Blondie Pants
Summary: "Mama?" Katara blinked, and saw her son standing in front of her, watching her with innocent, childlike concern. She reached out and drew his warm, small body close to her. "It okay, Mama," he said. If only, my sweet son. If only.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I didn't come up with it. I don't get paid for this. Please show your appreciation and review. It's the only form of recognition I get.

A/N: Dates are important! Making a quick mental note of what the date is will really help you understand.

**Chapter One: Prologue**

_October 24__th__, the 2167__th__ year of the Age of the Avatar  
Dear Sokka,_

_In response to what you said before: you know, surprisingly, I don't miss the cold as much as I thought I would. I miss my family of course, but I've learned to love the warm climate. I know you could never get used to it._

_How is Suki doing? How close has she come to killing you yet? I'm sure the added hormones haven't made you seem like any less of an idiot. How much longer until she has the baby? _

_Anyway, I'm coming to visit! Aang and Appa are here in the Fire Nation and offered to bring me along when he leaves in two weeks for the Southern Water Tribe. He'll have to leave after a few weeks like usual, but I intend on sticking around longer. I'd love to be there to help Suki through her delivery. Zuko can't be away for as long as I can, having Fire Lord duties and all, so he'll be along later. He'll bring Akeo with him. I decided that they should have some male bonding time. You wouldn't believe how big he is, Sokka! He can't wait to see you. _

_Give Suki and Gran-gran and everyone else my love. I'll be there soon._

_Love,  
Katara _

xXxXxXx

January 17th, the 2168th year of the Age of the Avatar

"Fire Lord Zuko!"

Zuko spun around to face the message runner, a boy of nine or so, in a bright blue parka. "Is it time?" he asked. He tensed and clenched his fists, ready to sprint away.

"Not yet. But you've been summoned to the war room."

"Oh." His face fell with disappointment, causing the bundle of fish to nearly fall out of his arms.

The boy laughed. "Soon, Fire Lord. It'll be soon."

He smiled. "Take this to Gran-Gran, will you? And won't you call me Zuko? I'm nobody's Lord here. Just a common man."

He took the bundle, looking at Zuko with a mixture of fascination and respect. "But you're not common. You are the Fire Lord." He shrugged and turned in the direction of the home where Katara's grandmother lived, and Zuko walked off in the opposite direction, wondering if there was any way to get his wife's people to treat him normally. Living among the complex politics of the Fire Nation nobility made him miss the simplicity of peasant life. He loved visiting the Southern Water Tribe because it gave him the chance to return to that, if even only for a short time.

When he entered the war room, he was met with solemn faces. Sokka was sitting in the corner with his head in his hands, shoulders shaking slightly, but not moving otherwise. "What is it?" In an instant, the common Water Tribe man vanished, replaced by Fire Lord Zuko. His eyes scanned the room, searching for clues. Maps of the southeastern part of the Earth Kingdom were spread out, and a letter lay under Hakoda's calloused palm.

"Zuko…" Hakoda looked like he might go into shock. He tried a few more times to speak, then pushed the letter across the maps to his son-in-law. "Read this."

Skipping over all the formal titles (judging by the look on Hakoda's face, it didn't really matter), Zuko got to the first line of the letter and read.

_I regret being forced to bear this terrible news, but my gamekeeper has found the body of Avatar Aang—_

The letter fell out of Zuko's hand and landed on one of the maps, looking completely innocent. _Found the body of Avatar Aang…body of Aang…Aang…_

He groaned, trying not to be sick, and fell to his knees on the fur covered floor around the low table. "How in the four hells," he began, voice muffled by his palms, "did someone manage to kill the boy who singlehandedly defeated Fire Lord Ozai—" Zuko could never again call that monster his father—"less than three years ago? He eluded and defeated countless men who were far more experienced, trained, and who were much older, stronger and deadlier. How did this happen?" He looked up at the faces of the Water Tribe councilmen. They looked like a group of lost children.

"I…don't know," Hakoda whispered. "I don't know, Zuko."

No one spoke for some time. Without the Avatar, it would be all too easy for some of the more stubborn Fire Nation nobles reignite the war. The Earth Kingdom would cut off trade routes and stand ready for an attack, suddenly mistrustful of their newfound allies. Citizens and refugees that dwelled in lands other than their native home would find themselves sudden outcasts. The delicate peace that the leaders of the world had worked so hard for would fall apart.

But Zuko thought of none of this. His mind was dwelling on the face of his friend. Aang, the incurable child, always laughing and devising new games, or on a devious day, pranks that rarely worked. Sometimes, caught up in the simple joy he got out of life, you could forget how powerful he was. But you were always reminded if his anger was ever truly ignited. Sprits protect you if that anger was directed at you. So _why was he dead?_

No one spoke for some time. Each man was lost in his own thoughts, trying to push through the haze of grief that clouded each of their minds to see any way to ease the shock and pain of the situation, even in only the smallest way.

"Zuko, you know what this means, don't you?"

He looked up and discovered Pakku's eyes meeting his. Having no clue what the water tribesman was talking about, he took a guess. "Um…the world will fall out of balance?"

The elderly master managed a weak, humorless chuckle. "We certainly hope not. But I assume you know the Avatar Cycle?"

_Air was last…what was first again?_ "Water, right?"

They all scrutinized his face, waiting for some reaction.

Finally, Zuko reached the end of his patience (though he'd never had much to begin with). "I have just been told that one of my best friends, the most powerful bender in the world and only fifteen years old, has been killed. We were in a very precarious political situation, and this is only going to make it worse. As if that weren't enough, my wife is pregnant, and she needs—" Zuko stopped dead. Suddenly it clicked.

"Now you see it."

Zuko's mouth opened and closed like a koi fish for a few moments before he managed to force a few terrified words out. "But…our baby is half Fire Nation…surely…"

"The spirits have been known to do the unexpected. She and Suki are the only pregnant women in the South, and we don't know anything about the North yet. It's too early for Suki to give birth, but Katara is a possibility, Zuko. It has been predicted that every third Avatar is female. If Katara has a baby girl within the next couple of days, it's a very good bet…"

Zuko was too stunned to say anything. His eyes were on the table, but he wasn't seeing it. He was seeing his wife, her stomach round with their child and her face glowing. _The Avatar?_

"Zuko." He looked up. One of the other men was talking now. "You should tell her."

All he could do was nod.

xXxXxXx

Katara smiled as she watched her young son play with the carvings of animals from all around the world. Tiny komodo rhinos, ostrich horses, sky bisons, and turtle seals littered the floor around him. She put a hand on her stomach and felt her second child kick.

"Kicking again?" Suki said.

Katara smiled at her sister-in-law. "Yes. He (or she, I suppose) is bored with being coped up for so long."

"Mine to."

"Yes," Katara said with a laugh, "but you've got twice the problem!" Suki, though a little bit behind Katara in her pregnancy, was noticeably bigger. She carried twins, her and Sokka's eldest children.

Both women turned as they heard someone enter the small house. Katara's smile instantly disappeared when she saw her husband's face, much paler than his already light skin tone, and his usually bright caramel eyes were a shade or two closer to brown. "Zuko, what happened?"

"Where…" His voice was hardly more than a croak. "Where's Gran-gran?"

"Making dinner. In the kitchen."

He collapsed in the corner, shoulders shaking and clenching his fists tightly around air.

Katara stood up with some difficulty and crossed the room to her husband's side. "Zuko, tell me." She knelt beside him and pried apart his fists with her own cool hands.

He looked up, tears running down his face. "Aang is dead."

Katara's world came to a halt. Three words, one of them the name of her dearest friend, resonated in her mind. _No…it's not possible…_The room around her disappeared in a haze of tears and Aang's face replaced it. He scrunched up his eyebrows in concentration as he tried to master a difficult waterbending move. He tried to sneak a sample of the dinner Katara was making and pouted when she smacked his hand with the spoon. He laughed as Momo stole Sokka's dinner and forced the clumsy teenager to chase him all around camp.

"Mama?"

Katara blinked, returning to the real world. Akeo stood in front of her, his slanted blue eyes watching her with innocent, childlike concern. She reached out to him and drew his comforting warmth close to her. "It okay, Mama," he said.

_Oh if only, my sweet son._ Tears ran down her face, soaked up by her son's brown hair. _If only._

xXxXxXx  
January 19th

For the second time in his life, eight months had not been enough time for Zuko to prepare himself for the anxiety of knowing his love was in terrible agony, and it was his fault. He cringed every time his wife's cries met his ears. It had been so different with Akeo…three midwives and the palace physician had been there, with the largest conceivable collection of herbs and medicines in case something went wrong. Here, everything was so—he winced when the first word that came to mind was _savage._ Reversing so many years of brainwashing was no easy task, and Zuko felt a pang of guilt every time such a thought ran through his mind. He left the small building for a bit of the cold South Pole air to clear his head.

The ice and snow was bathed in the soft white glow of a newly risen moon. Zuko swallowed hard as the thought came to him, yet _again_, that his child was probably the Avatar.

Suki had wanted to help, but Katara had made her leave hours before, not wanting her to be even more axious of her own upcoming delivery. So Suki had left in a huff and was now at home with Sokka, probably grumbling. They had taken Akeo with them and Zuko had been alone for several hours now. He paced, sat, fidgeted with tiny flames in his palms, and made little mounds out of the snow at his feet. When he eventually went back inside, he heard Gran-gran's voice and breathed a sigh of relief at her words.

"You're almost there, Katara," the old woman was saying.

Katara cried out and pulled on the rope loops above her head. She was naked and covered in sweat, her face flushed and tears running from her eyes. The ropes groaned in protest and Gran-gran had to admire her granddaughter's strength. Those ropes had never complained through hundreds of births. The young mother slumped in the momentary relief between contractions.

Gran-gran blotted sweat off Katara's face and neck with a cloth and smiled wryly. "You would think the Avatar could make this a little easier, wouldn't you?"

Katara managed a weak laugh, replying "We're not certain yet," before she was cut off by another contraction. "Push, Katara," Gran-gran ordered, and Katara did. The old woman moved closer to guide the child's body into the world. "The baby's head," She told her when the pain eased. "One more, _hard,_ Katara!"

Katara obeyed, screaming with effort as her second child entered the world and slid into her grandmother's waiting hands. She finally released the ropes and collapsed onto the pile of furs, chest still heaving.

"A girl, Katara," Gran-gran said, holding up the bloody, wailing baby. "A beautiful little girl."

_Could she really be the Avatar?_ Katara thought to herself as Gran-gran turned away to wash the child with warm salt water. They wouldn't know for sure for a few days, but Katara knew. She was her mother, and mothers know when their child is the most powerful bender in the world.

"May I come in?" said a shaky male voice from the next room. Zuko was anxious to see his wife and child. Gran-gran's birthing assistant quickly removed the soiled blanket from underneath Katara's bottom and spread a clean fur pelt over the young woman. "Yes, Fire Lord," she said.

The pelt that hung in the doorway was moved aside and Zuko walked in, his face ashen and golden eyes wide. He stumbled in his haste to be at his wife's side, and gathered her up in his arms as best as he could without moving her much. "Are you okay?" He kissed her forehead and moved sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes. He didn't even bother to correct the young girl's manner of addressing him as he usually did.

"I'm fine."

"Katara and Zuko, meet your daughter." Gran-gran turned so they could see the baby she cradled, wrapped in a thick gray fur. Zuko held his arms out, and Gran-gran placed her in the large and clumsy, but gentle, hands of her father. Holding her carefully, Zuko knelt next to Katara so she could really see her daughter for the first time. The baby's big eyes were green-blue, the perfect mix of Fire Nation amber and Water Tribe blue, her skin darker than his own but still far lighter than Katara's. She looked at her parents in wonder for a moment or two, then opened her mouth and began to cry. The sound was loud and healthy.

Zuko panicked. "What did I do wrong?" he said, looking at his wife and grandmother-in-law for advice. Both laughed.

"She's hungry," Katara said. "Give her to me."

Zuko handed the baby over, and she instantly found Katara's breast and began to nurse. For several minutes, the only sound in the room was that of the newborn sucking.

"When will we know?" Zuko asked. Both women knew what he was talking about.

"Soon."

xXxXxXxXx  
January 24th

Katara and Suki stopped talking abruptly when Sokka and Hakoda walked into the house. "Well, there's no way to sugarcoat it," Hakoda said. Katara felt Zuko's arm, draped over her shoulder, tense in preparation for Hakoda's next words. "The Northern Water Tribe has had two baby boys born in the past two weeks. One baby girl was born but she was sickly and died. You're holding the next Avatar, Katara."

Katara looked down at her daughter, sleeping peacefully and a tear ran down her cheek. "My best friend dead and my daughter born, within a week of each other. Such sadness, and such joy at the same time. It's a wonder we all haven't gone mad yet from the confusion."

No one said anything for a few moments. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts, trying to make sense of everything that had happened.

"I know what I want to name her," Katara said once she had pulled herself together somewhat. "'Renata.' It means 'reborn' in the ancient language of the Water Tribes."

"Renata it is," Zuko said, looking lovingly down at his daughter as well.

Renata opened her green-blue eyes and stared up at her parents curiously, as if wondering why they both looked so sad. Upset by the expressions on the two faces she knew best, Renata opened her mouth and began to cry.


	2. The Shadow

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I didn't come up with it. I don't get paid for this. Please show your appreciation and review. It's the only form of recognition I get.

**Chapter Two: The Shadow**  
_November 4__th__, the 2183rd year of the age of the Avatar_

Zerdana was bored. She was perched on the roof of an average, middle-class house, in the Fire Nation capital while her younger partner was stationed as lookout. The half- moon illuminated parts of the streets brightly, and threw others into total blackness. The entire city was asleep, save the young woman and her partner, both clothed in black, sitting on a roof in silence.

Zerdana was far too impatient to act as sentry. Her mind wandered when she tried, and she tended to miss important details. Her younger partner, Lena, often relieved her of the job (the older girl could never understand how someone could sit there for hours and watch the nearly empty street as carefully as Lena did). Not even a roach-rat could escape Lena's notice. Zerdana began counting the roof tiles on the house next door to pass the time.

Zerdana had counted two hundred and eighty-one tiles before Lena caught her attention with the three-fingered beckon that was their signal. The two girls scooted nearer to the edge and peered down into the dark street. Four people walked out of the door below them. They were all wearing dark cloaks and shifted awkwardly, obviously trying to prevent concealed weapons from clinking.

Lena and Zerdana dropped off of the roof into the alley, landing silently on the balls of their feet. The four people continued walking up the street, looking around frequently for any sign of a threat, but oblivious to the two teenage girls tailing them from the shadows. Lena waited until she was just behind them before she drew her identical swords from their shared sheath.

"Who's th—" Lena ran him through before he could finish his sentence. In the same motion, she thrust her other blade through a second man's stomach, killing him also. They gasped in pain and surprise for a moment before falling. The other two turned, drawing weapons, and failing to see Zerdana appear almost out of nowhere. She grabbed the third man's head between her strong hands and twisted it to the extreme right. He slumped, and the fourth turned to run, but found his wrist trapped in a strong grip. Zerdana twisted his arm behind his back until he gasped and turned him to face her smaller partner.

Lena's face was hidden in the shadow of the hood of her cloak, except for her Fire Nation eyes. They glowed bright gold in the moonlight, as if the flames of her heritage burned behind them. Many people in the Fire Nation had amber eyes, but Zerdana had never seen any that were as stunning as Lena's.

"Shadows…" the man said. "You are real after all."

xXxXxXx

Lena and Zerdana jogged through the streets of the Fire Nation capital, staying in the shadows and moving with effortless skill and stealth. If anyone had caught a glance of them, they only would have looked like a trick of the moonlight. It was hard to be sure of anything one saw in the darkest hours of the night. The street they had just been on looked innocent and peaceful. Not a trace remained of the four men that had taken mere seconds to kill. Lena and Zerdana were well-practiced and coldly efficient.

They arrived at an average-looking house in a middle-class area of the city. It was settled between two others of similar size and shape. There was nothing about it that would draw attention. Zerdana knocked twice, and waited for a moment before leaning close to the keyhole and whispering something so quietly that not even Lena, who stood right next to her, heard it. The door opened and the two girls slipped through quickly.

"Auntie Dana!"

Lena smiled as a boy of about five crashed into Zerdana and hugged her around the knees. She laughed and swung him into her arms. "Hey, little man! You lost a tooth!"

He giggled and displayed his mouth proudly. "It was just a baby tooth. Now I get a big boy tooth to take its place."

"Is the Tooth Spirit going to visit?"

"Ma says so."

"Well then I'm sure she will. Lena and I have to go talk to Jee. Then I'll play with you. Okay?"

His face fell a bit, but his smile returned when Zerdana kissed his cheek. "'Kay."

Zerdana put him down and the pair headed into the main room of the house. Most of the first floor was one large room, with almost no furnishings. A few pillars were scattered around the room to keep the second floor from collapsing, and a pile of heavy black cloth was thrown into the corner. Lena and Zerdana removed their cloaks and tossed them on the top of the pile.

Two people were moving around the room at lightning fast speeds, sparring with no weapons, in a style that was unlike any other. A very observant person would be able to see that it had elements from a number of combat styles, and took many of its moves from various bending styles. A middle-aged man standing in the corner was watching with an expert's eye, shouting out orders and general reprimands for little mistakes that few would have seen.

"Rokio, you need to _move_! If Kita had a knife you'd be dead ten times over!"

Rokio was the largest out of the six Shadows, stocky and dense, but he was also the slowest. He was one hundred percent Earth Kingdom, and looked it.

After a few more seconds of watching, the man lost his patience. He moved towards Rokio's unprotected back, lifting a knife and bringing the flat down on the young man's shoulder with a sharp _smack._ He gasped in shock and pain and his right arm fell limply to his side. His left hand went to massage the injured shoulder, and he turned to glare at his trainer. The woman also stopped, panting, and looked to the older man for instructions, trying to hide her expression of relief that she had not been the one he had chosen to strike.

"You are not a rock, although you may resemble one. You will rarely be so lucky to fight a weaponless opponent. Learn how to defend, not just ignore."

Rokio nodded, still nursing his wounded pride and his sore shoulder.

"And Kita, you will not always be in a location where you can use your surroundings against them. Learn to fight on level ground." Kita nodded also. "Keep sparring, I have to debrief Lena and Zerdana." The pair took their fighting stances and the man walked towards the two girls. Rokio flashed a quick smile their direction, and received another sharp smack for his lapse in attention.

Upstairs, the three headed into a small room with a plain but expensive desk and chair. Shelves on the left wall were filled with several hundred scrolls, organized in some mysterious way that only Jee understood. He sat down behind the desk and reached for a fresh scroll and a brush. Jee sat down in the chair, and the two girls stood in front of it, backs straight and hands clasped behind their backs. Zerdana began the report as he meticulously recorded every word.

"Four men left the house one hour past midnight. Lena and Zerdana followed them for a quarter of a mile before ambushing them from their left and right flanks. Two of them heard Lena as she drew her swords and turned as she ran them through the abdomen. Zerdana broke one's neck. The fourth tried to flee, but Zerdana grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back. His last words were 'Shadows, you are real after all.' Lena ran him through the abdomen. All four bodies were disposed of through a sewage hole, about one hundred feet away from the where they fell. A large water pot nearby was tipped over to wash away the blood and returned to its original position, empty. Lena and Zerdana then returned to the house."

The man wrote for a few more moments before stopping and looking at both girls. "Lena? Anything else?"

"No, sir."

He rolled up the scroll. "In that case, you ladies are free to go for the evening. Zerdana, Kita will probably be heading home as soon as she and Rokio finish, if you wanted to wait for her."

Downstairs, Kita and Rokio were stretching to wrap up their workout. Rokio looked up when they walked in and flashed his huge trademark smile again. He was always so cheerful; nothing ever seemed to shake his good mood. Lena and Zerdana heard a small noise behind them and Zerdana smiled knowingly. Kita was trying to hide her smile as she stretched out her left leg.

"AAAHHHH!" the little boy cried out as he rushed Zerdana, who bent to grab him before he could attack and flipped him upside down. "Oof." He ended up hanging upside down, his legs trapped by one of her arms, and arms held firmly between her knees. He wiggled furiously, but could not escape.

Zerdana laughed. "Surrender, boy! Or you will be subjected to tickle torture!"

His cry of "Never!" dissolved almost instantly into a shriek of laughter as Zerdana tickled him. He squirmed, but the young woman had a secure grip. Rokio joined in their laughter, but Zerdana hardly noticed, absorbed in her task of merciless torture. After a few moments of this, Kita came over and pried her squealing son from the taller girl's arms. "Okay Taimu, time to go home and get some sleep."

"Aww, Mama!" he whined.

"Come on, Kita, you're no fun," Zerdana said, chuckling.

"Someone needs to be the adult around here. Now both of you go get your cloaks."

"Yes, Ma," both Zerdana and Taimu said. Kita placed him gently on the floor and followed as he scampered away to find it.

"You have to go?" Rokio said. He stood up, having finished his stretching. Lena had to bite back a chuckle at the sight of the two of them. Zerdana was just a bit taller than him, but didn't notice. However, he did, and was doing his best to stretch to his full height as subtly as he could.

"Apparently. I have to listen to my mother, after all."

He laughed. "That you should. Take care, Zerdana. See you tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow is my day off. Lena to."

"Okay, well I'll see you in a few days then?"

"Yeah." She narrowed her eyes and pointed a slender finger at him. "I still owe you an ass-whooping."

He laughed and held up his hands in surrender. "I said I was sorry, didn't I?"

"Many times. Doesn't change a thing."

"Damn."

Zerdana laughed.

He stepped forward and hesitated a moment before hugging her. "Goodnight, 'Dana."

"Goodnight, Rokio."

As soon as he was gone, Lena snorted in laughter.

"What?"

"For Agni's sake, act your age."

"Huh?"

"Never mind." The younger girl picked up her cloak, black like the rest of her clothes, and fastened it around her shoulders. "I'm going to go get sleep."

"Okay. See you later, Imouto."

Lena smiled at the affectionate nickname. "Bye."

Lena left the house, quite literally disappearing into the night. Zerdana sighed. Lena was like a little sister to her, telling her everything most of the time. But she was hiding something. Something big. They had been taught from the beginning of their training to never know or ask more than they needed to, because some knowledge will only get you killed, but Zerdana didn't understand why that policy had to extend to one of their own.

Zerdana shared a home with Kita and Taimu, a home that had been provided as part of their contract with the Shadows. Rokio shared a home with Jiro and Naoto, but no one knew where Lena spent her days. No one had ever asked, and she had never volunteered the information.

Zerdana knew Lena was hiding her life from them. Why, she could not fathom. Many disapproved of their line of work, calling it dishonorable. The rest just dismissed them as a myth. What secret could be a worse than being a Shadow?

xXxXxXx

I'm having a few problems with the next chapter, but I hope it'll be done soon. Reviews motivate me!


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